Real-time data access is critical for energy and utilities field workers

Zebra Technologies, an innovator at the edge of the enterprise with solutions and partners that enable businesses to gain a performance edge, has announced study findings that indicate energy and utilities companies across the world will accelerate investments in mobile technologies to empower their front-line workers in the field.

According to 85% of respondents to the Future of Field Operation vision study, real-time
data access is vital to the successful execution of mission-critical workflows
in the energy and utilities industry.

“Mobile technology is critical in maintaining the
uninterrupted operations that customers expect from their water, electricity
and fuel supply service providers,” said Alex Cooper, Director of Government
and Critical Field Service Strategy, Zebra Technologies.

“To perform at their best, front-line workers must be
able to rely on mobile communications to get their jobs done effectively and
safely. Our study shows that as energy and utilities organisations progress
along their Digital Transformation initiatives, they will increasingly deploy mobile
technologies to give workers access to real-time data in the field.”

The study showed that 73% of respondents working in energy
and utilities consider their companies to be a mobile-first organisation. This
aligns with their strategy to transform their operations to become Digital
Energy or Digital Utilities enterprises, leveraging mobile devices to shift
from reactive to proactive, predictive, and even prescriptive service models.

Mobile
device usage has helped the majority of respondents drive increased
productivity in their field operations; 75% agree that mobile technology will lead
to improved worker job satisfaction within the next year. These positive
results in both worker performance and sentiment are now driving a significant
increase in the utilisation of mobile devices and applications in
mission-critical field operations workflows.

Today,
only 26% of companies equip more than half of their field team with mobile
technology. Respondents say this is projected to grow to 43% of energy and
utilities companies by 2025.

The study explored the
deployment and usage trends in the field. When equipping field
workers, ruggedized devices are the top choice for energy and utilities companies.

Today,
nearly 50% of companies have adopted rugged tablets, and this will jump to 80% in
the next year. An even higher number of
respondents say their companies will use rugged smartphones in the next five
years, with 93% indicating their mobile strategy will leverage these
purpose-built handheld devices for their workers in the field.

Among the most common features found on mobile devices, 66% of respondents
rank mapping and navigation as ‘extremely important’ in day-to-day operations. Access
to databases in real-time came in second with 63% followed by email
functionality with 62% of respondents ranking this as a top priority.

Key takeaways

Over the
next five years, the number of companies that will equip more than half of
their field technicians with mobile devices will grow by 17 percentage points
to reach 43%

Respondents indicate that the deployment of ruggedized
tablets and rugged-built mobile devices in the field will see stronger growth
than their consumer-grade counterparts over the next five years

Ranked in order of importance by users, the key
applications found on mobile devices are mapping and navigation, real-time access
to databases and email

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